


No Stone Unturned

by UnapologeticallyMeatwad



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Background Byleth/Edelgard and Hubert/Ferdinand but not a focus, During Timeskip (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Friends to Enemies to Friends, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Light AU where the Black Eagles recover Byleth's comatose body
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 18:28:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29336814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnapologeticallyMeatwad/pseuds/UnapologeticallyMeatwad
Summary: "The Emperor clearly is not of sound mind right now. We cannot afford to stay here. Until she can calm down, I am in charge. Now grab her and let’s go.”
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg & Hubert von Vestra
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	No Stone Unturned

**Author's Note:**

> I really love exploring the relationship between Edelgard and Hubert, so this is a story where they are at odds with each other, which I don't see too much of.

Garreg Mach was on fire and now it is ashes. Now it is rubble. Part of it at least. 

Hubert is lucky not to be totally submerged. He shoulderchecks the massive stone crushing him, and it falls to his feet. For a second, he pauses. White stone. He remembers this—it’s a column to a gazebo. He spied on Seteth from here once, back when this was  _ simple _ . 

Idiot. Stupid. He gnashes his teeth and moves on, doubling his pace. He needs to walk faster for engaging in such a long nostalgic moment. He starts to sweat. 

Edelgard. Where is Edelgard? 

This is an absolute disaster. Not only did Thales and his cretins show their ranks when specifically requested to stay off the field, they let loose their ridiculous Demonic Beasts, leaving the entire Adrestrian Army confused and disorganized. They didn’t know if the beasts were their ally or their enemy. 

It became free-for-all warfare when there was no need for such blood.

He runs, his tattered cloak catching on every passing shard and fragment. He pulls his knife out and slashes it off, moving faster. He sees a hand. Twitching. Alive. He drops a knee and grabs their hand. “I’m here, tell me what you’re trapped against, and we’ll figure out how to get you out.”

This is what Hubert does. He moves fast and handles things efficiently. It’s Petra, he saves her in seconds. She was with Linhardt and Caspar, he remembers that much. “Find them,” he growls before moving off. That’s when he hears the scream. 

It’s agonizing. It’s Edelgard. 

Faster, faster. He realizes he’s limping, and twisted his ankle twenty times over since  _ it _ happened. No matter, he’s alive now. Get it fixed later, he thinks, run to your Edelgard because your pain is nothing. 

Edelgard is alive and in one piece. Dark blood has dried to the side of her head, her pupils dilated. She’s muttering now, hands running through the rubble. 

“Your Majesty,” he chokes, getting closer. She doesn’t bother looking at him. She’s so focused. Perhaps something is wrong with her hearing. “Your Majesty, can you hear me?!”

Edelgard looks to him, lips slightly parted. “They—they—” she pauses and bites down a sob. “Byleth is gone.”

He freezes. Byleth is dead? Strategies, both wartime and political, die in his mind. Just like that. The elation he experienced a mere week ago when he learned that the Professor would be fighting alongside them is extinguished, replaced with cold dread. 

For a moment, Hubert forgets his Lady’s attachment to the Professor. He forgets Byleth is a person, and not just a machine of war. Because he doesn’t have time for people.

“Who’s down there?” he asks, and he sincerely hopes she has a good answer.

“Byleth,” she grabs the stones again, twitching hands failing to do any good excavating. “Maybe. I’m not sure. I need to find them.”

He presses his lips together. “If Byleth is buried that deep, then… El, I’m sorry.”

She ignores him, flipping a stone over and digging her arm in. Then she pulls her arms out, sleeves freshly torn with blood leaking through. She plows into the next set of stones as if she’s not tearing her own body open. He knows she heard him, she just doesn’t know what to say.

Because what she’s doing is irrational. 

Hubert thinks about the white dragon that just obliterated half of the school and probably half of their army. He thinks of how Rhea could come back at any moment. “Edelgard, we need to  _ go _ . I’m sorry, but—”

“I’m not leaving without them!” she screams, and he flinches. He has heard her scream, mostly in her sleep. Weak and terrified. This is different.

These are the kind of screams that hurt your throat, that cripple your soul, that make you stay weak. This cannot continue, but she’s the Emperor, she’s his Lord, and she’s also, most importantly, his best friend. 

He’s never stood up to her before, he just works behind her back in the shadows. He can’t do that right now.

“Hubert, what’s going on?” Caspar calls out, approaching. Hubert doesn’t need to look to pick up the sounds of all six sets of footsteps he was hoping for. His best friends are alive and he doesn’t let them see him breath a sigh of relief. 

“Byleth is gone!” Edelgard screams. “Need to… need to find them.”

“Edie,” Dorothea frowns. She’s thinking the same thing Hubert is.

“Shit, okay,” Caspar calls out. “Everyone, let’s help Edelgard, we need to find them! We don’t leave anyone—”

“ _ No _ ,” Hubert says coldly, and it cuts through the air. 

No one dares say a word. Even a tear-stricken Edelgard looks up in shock at Hubert, hands still twitching.

“The Immaculate One could return at any moment,” Hubert says with the least emotion he can muster, though he knows Edelgard sees how his throat bobs as he speaks; that’s his tell that he’s about to absolutely lose it.“We take who we can find and  _ go _ . Or it’s going to be all of us underground, not just Byleth.”

Edelgard snorts and gets back to work. She assumes the others will join her.

Hubert will not allow that. 

“Petra. Caspar. Restrain her,” Hubert commands. Edelgard flinches but gets back to work, sifting through stone even faster.

“Did…” Caspar gapes. “...you just say what I thought you said?”

“Is this…” Petra steps forward. “...Hubert do you really think…”

He nods. “The Emperor clearly is not of sound mind right now. We cannot afford to stay here. Until she can  _ calm down _ , I am in charge. Now grab her and  _ let’s go _ .”

Edelgard puts up a fight. Hubert spares everyone the grief and takes her out himself.

* * *

Emperor Edelgard von Hresvelg floats in the air, dark magic swirling around her body in a double helix.

“It’s not hurting her,” Hubert explains to Ferdinand. Caspar just left and now it’s Ferdie’s turn in the rotation. “Just… keeping her asleep. It’s unlikely she’ll break out and if so… restrain her if she tries to go back to Garreg Mach.”

Ferdinand looks at him, so pale and so haggard. “Is this really necessary?”

“Yes,” Hubert sighs. “Do you really think I would hurt her for no reason?”

Ferdinand holds his gaze, then looks away. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Don’t speak to me in code, just say what’s on your fucking mind,” Hubert snips.

“Geez, Hubert! Calm down, I just…” Ferdinand settles again. It’s unlike him to be so calm. Especially in the face of Edelgard. “I’m asking you if we should even be at war when it’s so obvious the woman who started it isn’t well.”

* * *

Hubert doesn’t answer Ferdinand’s questions, he’s sick of this. He already pledged loyalty to the throne, just be done with it. 

He moves into the hallway of their base in Varley only to get ambushed by Generals Randolph and Ladislava. 

“Is Emperor Edelgard well?” Randolph asks calmly. “I heard she took quite the blow.”

_ Yeah. From me _ , Hubert darkly chuckles in his mind. “She’ll recover soon, I’m sure. Is there an issue?”

“Yes. I guess you’re better to speak to. Edelgard has a tendency to—”

“Not tonight, Randolph,” Hubert is so sick of this, all this whining and needling against Edelgard. 

“Really?” Randolph seems almost amused, and elbows Hubert in the sides. “I can respect that.”

“You’re doing a good job, Hubert,” Ladislava adds on.

Hubert really doesn’t need compliments, he knows he’s very good at what he does, but something about them saying it right now makes his heart warm, and he finds himself smiling. “It’s been a long day.”

“Too true,” Ladislava echoes. “There’s a tall man with a pointy black beard asking to speak with the Emperor immediately. He says he’s very important. Never seen him in my life.”

“Yeah, total jerk too,” Randolph shakes his head.

Hubert takes in a deep sigh. How the fuck is he supposed to explain this on short notice. 

“His name is Lord Arundel and—”

“Oh so you don’t like him,” Ladislava chuckles.

“—he’s—what—pardon, how did—how can you tell?” Hubert’s voice actually  _ cracks _ . Embarrassing.

“Whenever you’re about to tell us something you don’t want to, you like, sigh under your breath, like you need to hype yourself up. You do it all the time,” Ladislava laughs.

“All the time?” Hubert frowns.

“All the time, dude,” Randolph chuckles. “Classic Hubert.”

Again—such needling would usually bother him but tonight it’s quite refreshing. “Well, yes, I find the character of Lord Arundel to be abhorrent. He’s—loosely associated with those monsters that appeared, and yes I’m handling it.” 

Randolph and Ladislava don’t say anything, and it takes a moment for Hubert to realize they are waiting on his orders. He really is Emperor. Damn. Just like that.

“Show me to Arundel, and make sure it’s in a room with thick walls.”

* * *

Well, that was excruciating. Arundel is such a—such a  _ bitch _ . So fucking catty, he’s worse than  _ Hilda Goneril _ . He has no reason to be so nasty to Hubert, and  _ especially _ to Edelgard. The old man just rages on and on about how worthless Edelgard is and how pathetic it is that she’s incapacitated at a time like this. 

Hubert gets so angry, his whole body pulls taut. His fists clench, his heart pounds, and it’seven ten minutes later it is all still racing. Really Hubert doesn’t feel well but that doesn’t matter. He’s the sitting Emperor. He needs to stay awake.

At least it eats up time. By the time Hubert is done with all this nonsense, it’s time for him to relieve Ferdinand and take watch on Edelgard for the rest of the night, but when he opens the door he finds that Ferdinand is in there alone.

The door slams behind Hubert. He didn’t mean to slam it, he just… he just…

“Where. Is. She.”

Ferdinand crosses his arms. “Where do you think?”

“You didn’t try to stop her,” Hubert spits. 

“No, I didn’t. I am not going to war for someone I have to manhandle, and I don’t think you should either. You’re better than this.”

Hubert puffs up his chest. He  _ really  _ doesn’t want to do this right now. “You’re upset about your father, aren’t you?”

“Yes I am!” Ferdinand shouts. “The man is under House Arrest and I have no idea why! I know he’s bad, but—this is unheard of! Immediately as she took the Throne she took  _ everything _ from us and without a word! I asked her, as she stepped down from your stupid spell, for an answer and she ignored me. She didn’t even  _ look _ at me Hubert!”

Hubert bites down an insult and tries to find his best goodwill. “I know why your father is imprisoned; it’s the same reason my father is to be killed. You don’t want to know. Let it be.”

“Fuck you,” Ferdinand spits. “Fuck you and fuck her. We’re supposed to be friends and you’re acting like—like—I don’t know, words—fucking fail me. I’m out of here.”

Hubert takes in a deep breath, and thinks for a moment. She totally went back to the fucking ruins of fucking Garreg Mach. He needs to—

Pain. He feels pain.

—oh.

—oh that’s not good.

“Ferdinand,” he rasps weakly. “Take me to one of the medics, if you would.”

Hubert passes out.

* * *

The nerve of that doctor to insinuate that Hubert is even capable of having an  _ anxiety attack _ . Him?! Ha! Ridiculous. How could he—no, he’s not even going to consider it. 

He is still in his gray smock the doctors put him in when he slips a random jacket he finds laying about. He needs to find Edelgard, surely she’s—

—she’s actually quite easy to find.

Edelgard stands, arms bandaged all over, in a smock herself. She has no pants, and it shows all of the hideous scars on her legs. She looks to Hubert and moves past him, closing the door behind them. 

Edelgard’s not actually the main attraction here.

It’s Byleth. 

Byleth is lying before them, hooked up to some kind of device that appears to be giving them blood and potentially food? It’s quite advanced. 

Hubert walks up to the body and puts his hand to their chest, and well… there’s no heartbeat. He looks to Edelgard, face so pale. He… he’s at a loss. 

“It took eight hours,” Edelgard sighs.

Eight hours?! How long has he been asleep?

Edelgard continues, “They were buried deep. Doctor thinks they’re dead.”

“So it must have taken a lot of arguing to get them to hook the body up to—”

“Yes,” Edelgard clearly doesn’t want to get into it. Because it’s Agarthan tech, it has to be. “They’re alive.”

“El,” Hubert doesn’t say that name often, because it makes the two of them overly emotional. He sits on the bed with her. “Living people have a heartbeat. Byleth…”

She turns away. “The first of my siblings to die didn’t have a heartbeat either. One whole day. We thought they were dead, but they were just…” She shakes her head. “Gone, paralyzed in fear. She got up towards the end but… it’s not impossible, Hubert.”

“I’m sorry,” Hubert says quickly. “I didn’t know that—”

“It’s fine.”

It’s not, really. He’s never felt this at odds with Edelgard before, and now he has her bringing up her time underground to defend herself. He turns away from her, not sure what to say.

“Besides, I know Rhea did something to them,” Edelgard runs her hand across Byleth’s cheek.

“Did they tell you that?” Hubert asks, voice getting tense again. “Do you 100% know for a fact that Byleth was experimented on?”

“Yes.”

“What’s your proof?”

She looks at him and sighs.

He continues, “It can’t just be your feelings anymore, Edelgard. We’re at war.”

“Rhea looks at Byleth the same way Thales looks at me,” she says, and again Hubert winces. He’s driving a metaphorical knife into her by asking these questions, potentially retriggering her. “I never said anything, but Rhea’s love and appreciation for Byleth was never real. She saw Byleth as some kind of project. Think about it. Why else would Rhea allow a dunderhead like Byleth to be a Professor alongside the likes of Hanneman and Manuela?” She allows herself a little smile. “Byleth didn’t even know about the Church—”

“That’s not enough.”

“It _ is _ enough,” she stares so hard at him, all of her anger turned against him. “Did you see how she watched Byleth on that throne? Something was supposed to happen, and it didn’t thankfully, but... Please. You’ve trusted me this long, Hubert.”

He nods finally. For all intents and purposes, Byleth is alive. It just has to be that way.

“I… I need them to be alive, Hubert.”

Hubert closes his eyes. He loves Edelgard. He really does. And that’s why he has to do this.

Hubert stands up and looks down at her. “Ferdinand left.”

Edelgard blinks. “I… I knew that.”

That makes Hubert angrier. Good. Keep pissing him off. It makes it be easier for him to be the villain.

“Dorothea and Bernadetta are next,” Hubert says so coldly it chills even him. “Ladislava and Randolph are losing faith in what the Empire even  _ is _ . A dragon killed half of our army. People are angry and grieving and you’re doting over a dead body.”

Edelgard nods. She’s not going to argue this. 

Good.

“You feel it too, don’t you?” Edelgard muses. “This is happening too soon. Please sit with me.”

He sighs and comes to her again, and she looks at him so warmly it’s making him tense again. “I’m eighteen years old and… I’m still in that dungeon, Hubert. I know I’m not fit to lead. I’m only doing this because I have the opportunity and… I’m scared. You’re scared too, aren’t you?”

“Very much so,” usually he just echoes her, but today, he really needs to let it out. “I’m scared for our friends. I’m… happy that Ferdinand is standing up for himself, I’m worried about the others.”

“I’m worried about you, you had a panic attack.”

“Oh please,” Hubert shakes his head, and she just rolls her eyes. “I’m worried that Thales isn’t going to play this like we expected him to. I’m worried he’s going to destroy you. I think that’s why he’s interfering.”

“Yes,” Edelgard sighs. “I’m worried that I won’t escape that dungeon, and I won’t be normal. I don’t have a strategy, I don’t even have a real political agenda, everything I am was just getting us into this war and I really thought… I really thought they’d at least stand with us.” She looks to Byleth.

Hubert knows Edelgard is in love with Byleth. 

He feels the same for Ferdinand. It’s too bad. Two tragic lovers.

“El, may I speak freely?”

She quirks an eyebrow. “Always. You’re far too formal with me.”

“It’s… frustrating for me to hear this,” Hubert can’t bear to look at her as he says this, because his words might as well be knives. He struts away, arms folded behind his back. “I have sacrificed my soul for you, I am but your tool. I’ve killed so many for you in the shadows, so cowardly. I never wanted to be this, but it is neccesary. And, if you’re going to behave like this, it makes it feel like all of this isn’t worth it.”

Edelgard says nothing. He turns back to her and she’s expressionless. And finally she shrugs and gets to her feet. “I’ll be Emperor then. I’ll be cold. But allow me to at least have Byleth as a buoy.”

“You don’t need to ask me for—”

“You’re better at this than me,,” she whispers, and he can feel her rage holding back. He’s too tired to keep this going. “You see me, you see how people perceive me. I’ll be colder. Can you… watch them for me?”

“I suppose I must,” he nods. “I didn’t mean to hurt you—”

“Too late,” she snips, turning away. “It’s fine. It’s not the first time. I’ve just been… struggling with this idea that so many people hurt me because I am indeed horrible.”

“You know you’re—”

“Shut up.”

Hubert falls back. He shouldn’t have said anything. He really doesn’t know what to say now. So he lets her walk and looks to Byleth and their peaceful face. 

* * *

It takes five years for Byleth to wake up, yet still, Hubert visits them every day. If they really are just in a coma—well, food and water are still important. He’ll admit, now that he’s leveled out, he does note how Byleth’s body is warm and not decomposing. Edelgard sticks her tongue out at him one day over it, but they don’t talk anymore. Even in the war room.

Not even coffee heals his soul. 

He tries to tell himself it’s fine. If Edelgard doesn’t want to be his friend for the one time he spoke candidly—Goddess, how childish of him. He’s never felt like this. Sensitive, fragile. If Dorothea were still here, she’d tease him into oblivion. 

Ferdinand, Bernadetta, and Dorothea leave immediately as predicted. Linhardt takes a moon or so to work up the courage to say goodbye to Caspar. 

Caspar stays at least. Petra too.

But Petra disappears a year in when infiltrating the Kingdom as a spy. The job wasn’t supposed to last so long, but Huber has no one else out there. His Spy Ring is vanishing more and more day by day. 

He believes Petra is alive as much as Byleth is. Another year passes and it seems certain. Their forces are shrinking rapidly, and little gains are made. Edelgard is often in meetings; half of them with Fodlan officials and the other half with Arundel, and later in, just his minion, Myson. 

Thales doesn’t show his face anymore as some passive aggressive bullshit.

Most of the meetings with Thales are Edelgard pleading him to stop. So many battles dominated by Demonic Beasts no one predicted were coming. It’s humiliating. Especially when Edelgard has to pretend it's her doing. She has to be cold, her eyes must always be glazed over, hands hanging limp. 

“ _ Yes, the Demonic Beasts were part of our strategy, Caspar. I am sorry that you were not told. _ ”

Everyone in the army hates Edelgard. The only thing she has going for her is her ideals, it keeps them fighting. 

“I don’t know what to do,” Hubert looks up from his coffee and to Byleth. “I’m trying, I thought I was more than this.” 

He bites his lip, already embarrassed to say something so shameful to a corpse. But he continues. Who cares anymore. “You could handle it though, I know you could. I always watched you and groaned at Her Majesty’s adoration. But for some reason, everybody really liked you— _ I _ really liked you.” He slouches and crosses his arms, wondering if he should continue this ridiculous farce. 

“We don’t have food. The Church burnt down Remire. All those people we tried to save back then are dead anyways. They did it because Remire grew crops for us. It was the entire purpose of their village, it was how Her Majesty reconstructed them to and helped them. And they died for her.”

Byleth doesn’t react. As always. Living and dead, always silent.

“The choice is straightforward. Either we stay here at Garreg Mach over the winter and starve, or relocate our forces quickly to Enbarr and lose our positioning. Either way we lose, and either way you die. I can’t justify feeding or moving a corpse like this. We’re already pushing it, I really need you to wake up now.”

Nothing happens.

“But of course, you won’t.”

He groans and gets up to leave and pauses, stopping to look at Byleth again. It’s nothing interesting but something about their resting face calms him. He tries to meditate, difficult though it may be in these times, he tries it. And tries to imagine what Byleth would even say.

He can’t. He can’t look at Byleth and not think of how much this hurts Edelgard. He should probably break the bad news to her about the food shortage soon. 

* * *

“I don’t know anymore,” Edelgard almost wheezes, stretching against a nearby shelf. “It feels like it doesn’t matter what we choose to do. Any move we make, the Kingdom crushes us, and it feels like nothing.”

She shouldn’t say that. She shouldn’t say that the Empire being crushed is just  _ nothing  _ to her. But he feels the same, though his—tiff—with her makes him want to disagree, he doesn’t. 

They are only meeting because this is particularly urgent. 

He sighs. He feels the same dread. “I miss our friends.”

Edelgard looks back, flashing him a peculiar look. “Byleth is changing you, aren’t they?”

Normally that would hurt him, but he feels almost relieved at this moment. “Yes.”

Edelgard looks away. “I wish they’d wake up. I wish they’d—this is ridiculous. Byleth would be furious if they could hear me right now. Doting over them, relying on them… Byleth is dead. For the purposes of this conversation. Petra is not. We’ve given up on the wrong person, she’s alone out there.”

Hubert bows his head. “For a year? If she is alive, I wouldn’t be shocked if she switched sides—”

“Can you handle a difficult conversation?” Edelgard asks, cocking her head to the side. “The Professor was always good at talking to people. At getting them to do things. How would you feel about talking to Ferdinand?”

Hubert nearly coughs. “Ferdinand? Well, I don’t know, I suppose I—what am I talking about with him?”

“You’re talking about his recent decision to defect to the Kingdom.”

Hubert blinks. “Oh shit, Your Majesty. That is quite devillish.”

She smiles, a dark glint in her eye. “It’s a simple operation really.

* * *

And it works. Ferdinand flips out even harder than he did the day he left—“ _ You pretend I don’t exist for two years and ask me to do THIS?!” _ —and eventually, through some skills Hubert picked up from Byleth about being a good listener, goads Ferdie into joining the Kingdom as their new eyes and ears.

A moon passes, it’s snowing, and Garreg Mach is greeted by caravan upon caravan of food, with Ferdinand  _ and _ Petra in tow. Hubert sees it from the window and looks to Byleth. “You are so fucking lucky, Professor.”

But that isn’t the moment that turned the tides of war. It was what Edelgard told him before he left to find Ferdinand.

Clutching her traveling cloak, Edelgard looked at Hubert so longingly and he stared back. It felt like neither of them would say anything, so he got up on his horse and nodded to her.

“Wait,” she said, getting closer and looking up at him. “I betrayed you.”

Hubert blinked. “I beg your pardon?”

“With Ferdinand. I let him go. I think this strategy is smart but that’s not why I set you up for this.”

“Your Majesty, please, others can overhear—”

She pretended not to hear that. “I wrote him a letter already, explaining how horrible I was to him and begged for his forgiveness. He doesn’t know you’re coming, but… I know how you feel for him, Hubert. I…” She teared up and that broke his heart. “...saw the way you looked at him so fondly and—I want to be your friend, Hubert. I love you.”

Then Hubert cried. Just two heathens crying while their soldiers gaped.

“Please. Talk to him and really mean it, Hubert, okay?”

That’s what changed everything.

* * *

The once weakened Empire now strikes back tenfold, especially once the Black Eagle Strike Force reforms.

It’s not just Hubert watching over Byleth now. It’s everyone—

—except Edelgard—

—but there’s something to it. Taking care of Byleth is pretty easy. But Hubert has done it long enough that he’s  _ very _ particular about it, and though Dorothea likes to mock him for becoming the new den mother of the group, he finds an odd amount of joy in this ultimately inconsequential task.

No one thinks Byleth is going to wake up, so it’s become something of a joke now. Lots of gallows humor, especially from Caspar.

(Which is when Hubert finally starts to connect with Caspar on  _ something _ .)

But Edelgard never comes. Edelgard is never around. Usually she’s in her room writing. Sometimes it’s poetry, sometimes it’s more of her manifesto. Bernie put her up to it actually. She said writing might help people believe her more. But Edelgard is very self-critical, so getting anything published is difficult, but there’s movement. 

“I miss you,” Hubert says one day while pointedly not looking at her. There are dark rings under her eyes and she looks like she might pass out, not that calling her out on it will accomplish anything. “You told me you want to be my friend and I have respected your distance since for some time now, but today I’d like to spend the afternoon with you. I can’t focus on my work.”

She looks up dimly. He gives her time to process that. “You… you want to be my friend?”

He has known her for nearly two decades now. Now he feels kind of embarrassed. “That is to say…”

“I thought you still hated me, Hubert,” Edelgard says, almost whispering. “What do friends do?”

Hubert coughs. 

“Let’s write an essay together,” she turns to her desk and sits down. 

“Wait—no, Edelgard, that’s work—”

“If we’re friends, you call me, El. We’re going to write an essay about what we think Fodlan should be. Consider it a bonding activity.”

“Write an essay—I—no. Absurd. I’m no writer.”

“You just moved my soul, Hubert,” Edelgard taps her quill. “Besides, all I’ve done the past few years is write essays that say the nobility and Crests are bad over and over and over and over again.”

So they write an essay and it… it kinda takes off.

* * *

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Hubert growls.

Standing before him is Sylvain, Ashe, and Mercedes… and the Gatekeepers’ Brother.

“Sorry man,” Sylvain laughs. “I really thought you were the ol’ Gatekeeper. Figured you’d give us a free pass.”

“No no,” the brother of the Garreg Mach gatekeeper blushes. “I appreciate the compliment though.”

Hubert groans and jabs a thumb at the air. “Hey. Beat it. Go get the Death Knight. We are definitely killing these people.”

“YO WHAT?!” Sylvain cries out as Ashe and Mercedes mirror his dread. “No no, man. Hear us out, hear us out, we’re all unarmed—”

“—except Mercedes, she has magic!” Ashe pipes in.

“Not helping, dude,” Sylvain smacks Ashe upside the head. “Hubie, c’mon, listen to me—”

Usually Hubert would just brutally murder these people but he’s in a good mood today. Edelgard and him spent the morning painting together before planning some divisive strategies. “You have until the Death Knight gets here to plead your case.”

“Okay, okay, uh, uh, I got it!” Sylvain cries out. “So me and Ashe, we’re sitting around, ya know, talking about uh, politics and Crest ideology and stuff, just a coupla bros. Talking about dude stuff, politics, that is. And uh, well, we, both realized that—”

“—Dimitri doesn’t understand that Fodlan has a serious problem,” Mercedes shakes her head. “Did that really need to take so long? Hubert, we’re here to join you because we believe in Edelgard’s cause. Her most recent manifesto was beautiful.”

“Well, I mean, there’s a vetting process and,” Hubert drawls, but something’s wrong. He heard something weird. “Wait—the most  _ recent _ manifesto?”

The three Blue Lions just stare at him, like,  _ yeah man. That’s what we just said. _

“I… wrote that one, with Edelgard,” Hubert stutters. “You liked it?”

“Uh,” Sylvain raises an eyebrow. “We’re kinda giving up our entire lives and histories and families to be here, so.”

“Not me,” Mercedes says. “I have family here. Please bring me to Emile.”

Emile? Sounds familiar. But. “I don’t know if we have an Emile, you must be—”

“ _ Oh shit _ ,” the Death Knight’s voice booms from behind them all and he runs away in fright, his scary cape trailing behind him. Mercedes brushes past Hubert and pursues the man.

Hubert turns back to look at Sylvain and Ashe who are just as confused. “Let me… let me take you to Her Majesty. She likes to meet with all new recruits nowadays—”

Damn. They really liked his manifesto? Hubert feels kinda embarrassed, so he doesn’t tell anyone how touched he is until he’s alone with Byleth.

* * *

Six moons later it happens again. 

“They look so peaceful,” Marianne’s tiny voice glistens. “You said they’re alive?”

“Hmm,” Lorenz looks at Byleth’s corpse like it’s an art exhibit. “What if it’s a fake? A Trojan Horse if you would?”

“That’s dumb,” Leonie shakes her head. “Don’t listen to Lorenz, Hubert.”

“I generally don’t,” Hubert deadpans. He never liked the other students. At first, he tells himself it’s because they’re all dumb, but later in, he realizes it’s because he thought they thought he was dumb. And scary.

But they believe. They really do believe in this movement.

“Sorry I’m late,” Edelgard struts into the room, Lysithea besides her, just barely taller than the Emperor. Very odd sight. 

Edelgard looks relaxed. She’s been trying out a side ponytail lately, and she now consistently wears the imperial gown with the heart shaped gap on her back, that exposes so many of her scars. “It is good to see all of—oh. Um. I—I—I didn’t know this was—uh, Byleth’s room. Pardon me, I just haven’t seen them in...”

“Sorry,” Hubert apologizes immediately. “An oversight on my part—”

“—no,” Edelgard corrects, expression still soft. “I think I’m ready to be in the same room as them now. I… today I feel like someone Byleth would be proud of.” Her cheeks go red. “That is! Um, everyone in this room, yes, everyone in this room is someone Byleth would be proud of.” 

They make some small talk and leave the room, with Hubert and Edelgard trailing behind. She immediately looks to him, and before, he never knew what she was thinking, now he does.

“It was okay,” Hubert says, referring to the quick save she made when it got awkward. “It’s fine, they seem to like us a lot.”

She doesn’t say anything but takes Hubert’s hand. They’ve never held hands before and—

—he looks back to Byleth, and then back to Edelgard. 

Ugh, why did he just look back to Byleth? Dumb. 

* * *

Byleth wakes up five years after their body was recovered. It’s very startling, because Hubert doesn’t notice until he looks up and sees their wide blue eyes staring deep into his soul. Even then, they could still be dead.

“Hi.”

Oh. Definitely not dead.

“Hi,” Hubert rasps. “Are you… do you feel okay?”

“I guess,” Byleth says plainly. “You look good. I like the hairstyle. Also why am I strapped down with all these tubes?”

Hubert blinks. This is real. This is happening. It’s actually paying off in a very real way. “Professor, you’ve been in a coma for the past five years.”

Byleth continues to stare, and then laughs. “That’s funny.”

“I’m not joking.”

“Yes you are.”

“No I’m not.”

“Yes you are.”

“No I’m—when do I ever joke—”

“I can tell, I’m very good at reading people.”

Hubert could strangle them. The fucking nerve of it all. He walks away, pausing at the door and pounding the door frame, thinking. He needs to get Edelgard, he needs to get Edelgard right away.

But why? 

Is it because she must speak with their general immediately? 

Or is it because it would make her smile to see Byleth? 

Can it be both? Can Hubert really be—

“It has been five years,” Byleth frowns. “I was mistaken.”

He looks back and chokes on what should’ve been a full sentence and instead just becomes the word, “Yes.”

Byleth stays still and something about this moment feels very real, very fully. Neither of them really need to say anything to be understood. 

Hubert could walk now and get Edelgard. Should walk and—he returns to Byleth, staring at them. Words come to his mouth.

_ Remire was burnt to the ground, the Church has been more aggressive than anticipated. We’re in a stalemate and it’s been difficult. Our best opportunity to strike is in the Alliance and _ —

“You’re sad,” Hubert says. “What would make you happy?”

Byleth blinks rapidly. “Fuck, what happened to  _ you _ ? It really has been five years, huh?”

“Yes,” oh how he missed Byleth’s bluntness.

Byleth’s face screws up for a moment and they hem and haw. “I would like… food. And I’d like to see Edelgard. The three of us can talk, and maybe I’ll see the others later. They’re all alive, yes?”

“Yes, your students are alive,” Hubert turns away and marches to the door, his chest feeling very warm. It’s so unlike him but he—he likes this feeling. He wants more of it. He turns back before he leaves the room. 

“Welcome back, Professor.”


End file.
